


Friendship and Fear

by TheDarkChocolateLord



Series: Keeptober 2020 [5]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:55:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkChocolateLord/pseuds/TheDarkChocolateLord
Summary: On the beach of Lumenaria after the castle has collapsed, Bronte starts to worry about what happened to Oralie.Canon compliant; written for Keeptober 2020 for the prompt 'Lodestar'.
Series: Keeptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973125
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Friendship and Fear

"Bronte, the pacing's not going to help you," Emery warns.

"So you just expect me to calm down?" Bronte shouts, emotions raging out of him like water breaking through a dam. "Terik is going to lose his leg, the goblins who were in the dungeons are probably dead, Sophie and Edaline and Mr. Forkle all haven't made it out, a prison break just happened, and my best friend is missing!"

 _Not just missing,_ an annoying voice in the back of his head reminds him. _Oralie COULD be dead–_

_SHUT UP!_

"I know, but missing doesn't mean dead," Emery assures him, as if he was reading Bronte's thoughts. "Oralie probably hasn't found us yet. Ramira wasn't here until half an hour ago, and they're fine. We will get through this. And the pacing is just going to make you more anxious. Trust me on this one, Bronte. I've worked with you for almost a century now."

"That's barely a fiftieth of my age," Bronte retorts, but he sits down on the beach beside Emery anyway.

"Just because you're super old doesn't mean the rest of us are," Terik mutters from where Elwin is trying to stabilize his leg enough that they can light leap to a medical center.

Bronte wants to say something snarky back, but he gets cut off by Clarette. "The dwarves are going to stabilize the ruins, and then we'll be able to search. King Enki says it'll be ready by sunset."

_Sunset?_

Bronte glances at the sun, still high in the azure sky; it was the kind of picture-perfect day where the average person would never expect that something would go wrong.

Something always went wrong.

"That's too long," Bronte declares, standing up and dusting the sand off his tunic. "I'm going to go search."

"You can't be thinking about searching the castle, that's way too dangerous," Liora interrupts.

"I'm going to search the beach. It can't be any more dangerous than right here—and I'm in the best shape of anyone." His eyes scan over Emery, whose wrist is in a cast, Liora, who broke her ankle, and Clarette, who's applying bruise cream to her forehead as she finishes her talk with King Enki. "Just let me do this."  
Nobody objects, and soon he's scanning the beach, checking every cave, every patch of sand, every spot that any of them could have headed for safety. 

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

He's about a third of the way around the island when he sees a figure sitting on a beach in the distance—but, no, this person has red hair, not blonde—"Edaline?" he calls, but his stomach drops when he realizes that she's alone.

"Councillor Bronte?"

"Yes!"

***

"—and I woke up and she'd left me a note that said I'm okay, went to find Forkle. As if that's going to stop me from worrying about what happened to her." Edaline sighs and leans back against the rock. 

"It sounds like her, reckless and brave as usual," Bronte mutters. "Did the note say anything else?"

"No. Believe me, I wish she'd given me more information. I'm wondering how she found out that Mr. Forkle was missing. Did she find the rest of you?"

"Definitely not," Bronte tells her. 

At least Sophie's okay—though judging by the collapsed ruins of Lumenaria, she may not be for long. He doesn't bother sharing that. 

"Do you know anything else about what happened?" he asks, trying not to plead. "I don't care if I have to keep it secret, I'm not talking to you as a Councillor." He yanks off his circlet. "I don't need details or formality, but if you know anything and are willing to share it—I'm just trying to find Oralie."

"Oralie's missing, too?" Edaline takes a deep breath. "Okay. Sophie said she was going to contact Keefe, and I'm pretty sure that Keefe's here. If Keefe knows that Mr. Forkle is missing, he probably knows that Oralie is missing as well. I know that Oralie and Sophie are…..I'm not sure what to call their relationship. Allies, maybe? At any rate, they're close enough that Sophie's probably looking for her, too."

"I hope you're right."

"Look, Sophie's close to her and Keefe has a savior complex. They'll find her."

"And at the moment, there's nothing we can do but sit here and stress about it," Bronte mutters. "Lovely."

"Welcome to being one of Sophie's parental figures," Edaline jokes, offering a hand. "We do a lot of stressing here."

"I'm not one of Sophie's parental figures," Bronte argues. 

"You mentor her in inflicting, you take her side on the Council, you're concerned for her right now. You're one of her parental figures."

"I'm not concerned!" he declares, though….maybe he is.

Maybe a little bit.

"So you don't care if Sophie's safe or not?" 

"No, I do care—I mean—ugh." He leans back against the rock. "Forget what I said."

Edaline's lips twitch with the hint of a smile. "Hopefully they'll be back soon."

"Hopefully," Bronte agrees, not pointing out that this day has been anything but hopeful so far.


End file.
